The Quest to become a Keyblade Master
by ArborosDragon
Summary: Join Quas Kaiser and her mysterious friend Mailx as they go on 10 difficult missions to become Keyblade Masters. However, as the missions go on, Malix slowly begins to find out about his true origins. Not a super pro writer, just doing this for fun. Just a note, this goes along with Bladewielder05's "Keyblade Master Academy Troubles" but this takes place years back.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, characters that are first typed in bold are not mine but are bladewielder05's characters and he let me use them. I hope I did this right.**

Beginning

* * *

><p>"Attention all keyblade wielders!" said the loudspeaker, "Everyone go to the briefing room in 30 minutes for a very important announcement! You better be on time"<p>

A girl woke up from her bed and yawned loudly. She looked at her clock. "6:00..." said the girl while rubbing her eyes, "What could be so important to wake up this early?"

The girl managed to get out up in bed and get ready for the day. She put on her uniform which was light armor with a shoulder pad. The color design was up the person who received the armor. This girl's uniform was white and blue.

She looked into the mirror to see if there was anything wrong with her looks. She had long white hair that grew to her shoulders and different colored eyes, red on her right eye and blue on her left eye.

"Alright Quas," the girl said to her herself with a smile, "Lets go see what was so important."

. . .

Quas squeezed through the students that were trying to find open seats. Even though she came early, the room was already filled with over half the students in the school.

"Quas!" She turned around to see a aurora-haired girl waving. The girl had saved a seat for her.

"Thanks **Aurora**,"

"Your welcome Quas," Aurora looked around the room, "I'm surprised that a lot students came this early."

"I know, I thought everybody was going to sleep in a little."

"Well it was Master Duncan's assistant who made the announcement and you know a lot of people are afraid of him."

Quas laughed a little, "I guess so."

Aurora yawned, "I wonder what was so important to wake up this early."

"My thoughts exactly."

After all the students had found their seats, Master Duncan and his assistant came. The assistant came up to the stand. He had brown and grey hair which made him look older than he already is.

He looked up at the clock. "6:23," said the assistant, "Not bad but I next time I expect everybody to be here 10 minutes before the scheduled time." The room was silent.

"As you all know, I hope, I am **Claw**, the master's assistant, and that we are almost at the end of the school year." The room was still silent.

"You have been taught and trained by the finest teachers and had taken the first part of the Mark of Mastery."

Quas nodded. The balls of light were little annoying to fight against but she managed to beat them.

"In the next couple of weeks, you shall take the second part of the exam where you will fight other students."

Quas nodded again. She was one of the most skilled keyblade wielders in the school but she kept on practicing to improve her skills. Never know when you find yourself with a more powerful opponent.

"However!" The shout alarmed most of the students. "This does not mean that you can fool around. Bring him!"

All the students turned around as the doors of the briefing room opened. There, they saw a young boy, about the age of 11, escorted into the room. He had black and white hair and was resisting to move into the room but the escorts made him walk.

Aurora's eyes went wide. "**Blade**?"

Quas looked at her friend. "You know him?"

"Yeah, we met about a month ago. He was a new student. Blade seems a little mean at first but he makes a nice friend. I wonder why he's being escorted."

Quas looked at Blade. She had saw him about a month ago also. He may be very young and full of himself sometimes but Quas knows that Blade was really a good person and had been catching up in his studies.

Blade was thrown down in front of Claw. Both looked each other in the eye.

"So," started Blade, "What am I here for?" Quas look at Blade in amazement, not many people talked to Claw like that.

Claw glared down at student. "You are here because you were caught making graffiti on the wall."

"That's stupid!" objected Blade, "I would never do that."

Claw chuckled. "Alex, please come up."

Quas saw a student come up and walked toward where Blade was. He was the about the same age as Blade but was definitely bigger.

"Describe what you saw Alex."

"Well," started Alex, "It all began…

"I don't want to know how it happened just tell me what you saw."

Alex winced. "Well me and my friends were walking when we saw this guy drawing things on the wall."

"Are you 100% sure it was him?"

"110%"

"That's not true!" yelled out Blade. "It was Alex that did it not me."

"Eyewitness shows that it was you that did it." Then Claw looked at the students. "Unless anyone wants to believe Blade and disagree with my conclusion."

The room was quiet. Some of the students wanted to believe Blade but their fear of Claw was much greater. Alex smiled. It was true. He was the one that did it and he was about to get someone else the blame. Alex knew that no one was brave enough to stand up to brave. All he had to was wait and…

"I believe in him!" A voice yelled. Everyone was surprised. Someone stood up to Claw? Quas looked and saw Aurora standing up, her face surprised also.

Claw looked at her coldly. "You believe in him?"

Aurora couldn't speak at first, she was too shocked that she stood up the Claw let alone yell at him like that.

"Well?"

"I…I do."

"Me too." Everyone looked to see a blue haired boy standing up. Claw was a little surprised.

"Me three."

"I believe in him too."

Soon enough there were 8 more people supporting Aurora.

Quas smiled. "Are these your friends?"

"Sure are, " said Aurora with a smile, "All of us are very good friends to Blade."

The room was filled was amazement. Is there friendship really that strong to ignore their fear of Claw?

"Well…," started Claw, "It seems we are at a predicament." He looked at Master Duncan who was marveling at the students. "What do we to them. They believe that the little brat here…" "I HEARD THAT." "Didn't do it."

Master Duncan signaled Claw to move out of the way and stood up to the stand. Duncan wore a uniform that was different from the student's. Its armor design was different and had a cape.

"I am moved by this act of friendship," Duncan started, "But it is only because of that friendship that you have the courage to stand up to my assistant. If you weren't friends with Blade, you wouldn't have stand up, would you?"

The friends look down and saw that he was right. If they did not knew Blade in the first place, they would not know if they would of stood up or not.

"Unless…" The group of friends looked up. "If there is a person who is not friends with Blade that would defend him, I might make his punishment slide."

The crowd of students looked at each other. Some of them were about to stand up but then Claw came back up to the stand.

"However, if we were to find out Blade did indeed do the crime, then I would gladly punish him and everybody who defended him."

Then the students who were about to stand up sat back down again. Blade's friends look for some sign of support but found none.

Duncan frowned, he had hoped that his students were brave enough but he guessed that he was wrong.

Claw chuckled. "Well, if no wants to stand up then Blade and his friends are…"

"Wait!"

Now everyone was really surprised, even Claw. They searched the room to find the brave soul and finally saw who had said it. Duncan sighed. So she said it he thought.

"Hmph," said Claw, "Quas Kaiser, you believe Blade is innocent of his crime?"

"Yes, I do."

Duncan looked into the determination in her eyes. "Fine, I relieve Blade of his punishment." Blade's friends cheered. "However, I want all of you to see me in my office right this minute." Guards, escort them."

As she was getting escorted Quas look back at Duncan and saw that he was looking her. She smiled and said something that made Duncan said "Your welcome." Aurora heard what she said but didn't believe it at first. Quas had said "Thank you Father."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Kingdom Hearts. The franchise is owned by Square Enix**

* * *

><p>Origins<p>

"The Headmaster is your father?" The lady at the desk shushed the excited Aurora. "Sorry…"

Aurora, Quas, and Blade's other friends were in a waiting room outside of the Headmaster's office. Claw, Blade, and Headmaster Duncan were in the office discussing something that the others could not so they had to wait here.

"Yes," Quas said quietly, "He is my father."

"Why haven't you told me?"'

"I didn't think it was important."

"What do you mean it's not important, the HEADMASTER is your father, but, wait a sec…," Aurora pondered for a moment, "You two don't look alike."

Quas looked down. "Well because…umm…"

Aurora scooted over to her. "Yes?"

"Well…he's not my real father."

"WHA…" Quas put her hand over her friend's mouth. "Shh, be quiet."

"If he's your real father, then how did you two meet?"

Quas looked around the room. "Well since we're going to be here a long time, do you want hear the hole story?"

Aurora nodded. "Well," Quas started, "I guess I should start at the very beginning."

. . .

(8 years ago)

"What in the world?" The keyblade wielder called out to his friend, "Hey, look what I found."

Keyblade wielders were looking for survivors in a village because of a recent Heartless attack. It snowing which made the search a little difficult. So far, they haven't had any luck but perhaps their luck is changing.

"What did you find?"

"See for yourself."

The older wielder went to see what his companion has found. He was shocked. It was a little girl covered in snow. _I guess the Heartless didn't see her_, he thought, _thank goodness_.

"Did you find any more?"

"No, this girl seems to be the only one."

The older wielder sighed. "Keep searching, if you can't find any more in next 45 minutes come back to base." The younger wielder nodded and went back to searching. The older wielder carried the girl. He could her breath slowly and feel her shivering. He wiped off the snow off her. _Wait's this? The snow won't come off her hair. _He then realized that her natural hair color was as white as the snow.

. . .

The girl woke up and found herself on a warm bed and in a room. _Where am I? _The room seemed to look like a hospital room. _Wha…what happened? _The girl tried to remember what had happened to her but all she could recall was bumping her head. She began to feel her head for the bump and found out that it was bandaged. Then the door open and she saw a man wearing armor coming into the room. The man sat down in a chair near her.

"I see that you're awake." The girl said nothing.

"Is your head still hurting?"

"…Well, it still kinda hurts."

"What's your name young one?"

"My name is Quas."

"And your last?"

"Kaiser."

"Well, well," the man said, "Quas Kaiser, that's a lovely name."

"Umm, Mister, can you tell me where I am?"

"Well Miss Kaiser, you are in an infirmary located in a keyblade wielder base. I assume you know what a keyblade is right?"

Quas nodded. "My parents have them." She remembered seeing her parents sparred each other with their keyblades. "And speaking of them, do you know where they are?"

She saw the man frown. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find them."

"Find them?" Quas was confused, "What do you mean? Aren't they at my house?"

The man sighed. "Young lady, can you remember what happened at your village?"

"All I remember was that I was running and I hurt my head. Did something happen?"

"Hmm," the man said while scratching the back of his head, "How should I say this?"

While he was thinking of an answer, Quas was getting worried. What happened to her village and most importantly what happened to her parents?

The man sighed quietly. "To put it simply, your village was attacked by Heartless."

"What? Bu…but that's impossible! The village was built so that the Heartless couldn't find it."

"It worked for a long time but the dark creatures eventually found it."

"The…then do you at least know where my parents are?"

"I'm sorry. You were the only one that we found."

Quas could feel the tears in her eyes but didn't cry yet. There was one more question she needed to ask. "D…do you think they got away?"

The man leaned over to Quas. "Well they are keyblade masters," he smiled, trying to lighten up the mood, "I don't think a couple of little Heartless can defeat them." Quas gave a slight chuckle.

"Yeah…you're right."

"Now get more rest, you've been through a lot." The man started to leave the room until Quas stopped him.

"Umm, Mister? Can I please know your name?"

He looked back at Quas. "My apologies, my name is Duncan."

"Thank you Duncan."

"Your welcome."

. . .

"A few weeks later, Duncan adopted me and he's been my father ever since."

Aurora could her sigh. "Did you ever see your real parents?"

Quas looked down. "No, but I feel that they are alive somewhere."

"Hey guys!" Everyone turned to see Blade opening the door to the Duncan's office. "You can come in now."

Aurora stood up. "Come on, let's go."

"I'm coming."

As they were walking, Aurora noticed that Quas's head was still down.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll meet them someday."

Quas look at Aurora and smiled. "Thanks Aurora."

"Come on, let's see what your father got in store for us."

With that, Quas, Aurora, and Blade's friends went in the office.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, characters that are first typed in bold are not mine but are bladewielder05's characters and he let me use them. (sorry for the long wait, if there's anyone reading this anyway .)**

* * *

><p>The Special Mission<p>

"WHAT!"

"You mean that was all planned?" said one of Blade's friends

"Well…," started Claw, "It wasn't planned to be like this."

The group had finally went inside Headmaster Duncan's office and had been given some unfortunate news that could have been kept quiet. Never mind, news that _should_ have been quiet.

"Okay, okay calm down guys," Blade said while putting his hands in front him, "I'll explain everything." The group quieted down and began to hear Blade's explanation of all of this.

"Well, to start things out, I'm not actually a student here or anywhere. Believe it or not, I am actually a Keyblade master." Quas looked at the young boy with awe. A child at this age a Keyblade Master? She turned to see that Blade's friends were doing the same. "I came here to search for special students. Don't worry, I didn't fake my friendship with you guys. I wasn't planning to make any acquaintances here in the first place. Anyway, I learned that one of my friends was here and had high authority." He pointed at Claw. "We were planning to make a special situation that make those students appear. Claw just happened to find one of the students doing graffiti on the wall so we made it that I was blamed and hopefully those students will appear. I guess I made it a little easier since you guys are my friends."

"What happened to Alex?" Quas asked.

"Oh, he'll get what's coming to him," answered Duncan, "Continue Blade."

"Thank you Duncan, now I'm sure that you know that the second part of the Mark of Mastery is coming up soon?" They all nodded. "And I hope you know that you would be fighting against your companions in the test?" They nodded but this time sadly. The second part of the Mark of Mastery is said to have two close friends duel with one another and the one who is victorious is made a Keyblade Master. "Well I have something in stored for you guys so that won't happen."

The group huddled closer to the young keyblade master, eager how what he has to say. "I have a special mission for you and if you complete the mission successfully, all of you can become keyblade masters. All of you will accompany me in this mission."

One of Blade's friends said, "Is the mission hard?"

"Of course **Myst**, it will be hard, you're skipping the Mark of Mastery for god's sakes."

"What is the mission about?" asked Aurora.

Claw stood up. "The mission will require you to track down a rogue Keyblade wielder by the name of Genso. He is a formable opponent who uses illusions to help him in battle."

"What kind of illusions?" Quas asked.

"Mostly false enemies but they are cases where he disguises himself and fool his enemies."

"If he uses disguises, then hw will we know if one us is this Genso character?" asked Blade's friend with cyan-like hair.

"Good question **Raenx**," said Blade, "We will use secret words and phrases and ask one another how that word or phrase is. If the person doesn't know, he, or she, is either a complete idiot or Genso."

"Can I ask a question?" Blade could hear Claw groan. Blade sighed. "What is it **Flash?"**

Quas saw the orange-haired boy get excited. "Can Claw come?"

"No Flash, I'm not coming." Claw said with annoyance.

"Awwww," whined Flash, "Why nooooot?"

"Because, I have over matters to attend to."

"Like?"

"Well, umm…." Claw stayed silent for a moment.

"You just said that because you don't want to come with me."

"Because I don't."

Flash walked over to Claw and gave him a very tight hug. "Come on Claw, please?"

Quas whispered to Aurora, "Are they friends?" It was a little funny seeing Claw embarrassed.

"That's what I said to," Aurora answered, "Apparently they've been friends for a long time."

Before Quas could ask her more questions, there was a great yell. "OK FINE, I'LL COME ALONG!"

"Yay," said Flash clapping his hands.

"Well since we got that out of the way," said Blade with a little annoyance in his voice, "We will be heading were intel shows where Genso might be hiding. We leave in 30 minutes. Dismissed."

. . .

Quas looked at their destination. "Umm, Blade?"

He looked over to her, "Yes?"

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Well it seems like a place where a person like Genso would hide in." It was true, their destination was big deserted mansion in the middle of dark forest. It was surrounded by mossy brick walls and the gate to the mansion is very old and has strange pictures on it. Blade look at Quas with a smirk. "You can go back if you're scared."

"Of course not, I only asked because I was expecting something else."

"Like what?"

"Well since we were in the forest for the past half an hour, I expected a dark cave or a hidden path. This surprised me."

"You are scared aren't you."

Quas looked away. "Ok maybe a little." she said quietly. Quas had rarely been out of the school and this the first time she had been so far away from it.

Blade looked at the others. "Come on guys, we're almost there." All of them followed Blade to the mansion. Quas could see that Flash was very close to Claw and he seems to be a little annoyed. As they walked Blade walked up to Quas. "I almost forgot, I need to ask you a question."

"Sure, what do you want to ask?"

"Back at the school, you stood for me even though you didn't even knew who I was. Why?"

Quas laughed softly. "That's my parent's doing. They taught me that I when I feel that someone should be given one more chance, I should give them that chance."

Blade raised an eyebrow. "So you thought I should be given a second chance?"

"Of course! You didn't seem like a person to do something bad as writing on the school walls."

" How do you know that?"

"Because you are Aurora's friend and I know Aurora chooses her friends wisely."

"So she does. Anyway, it look like we're here."

Quas looked up and saw that the mansion gate was right in front of them. "Right…, the mansion."

_. . ._

Inside the mansion was more intimidating than it was outside. It had everything what you expect an abandoned mansion would have, dark atmosphere, cobwebs everywhere, even big portraits of people. "So…" Claw started, "Where should we look?"

"Let's split up and look for clues!" Flash said. Blade and Claw glared at him while the others resisted to laugh. Quas scanned around the room. "You know I think he has a point, this place is bigger than I expected."

"Fine then," said Claw, "I will go with Flash and **Hydro**. Blade will go with Raenx and **Iggy**. The rest of you, Quas, Aurora and Myst, will be another group. Understood?" Everyone nodded. "Good, anyone who finds or sees something suspicious will yell out to the other groups."

The three groups search high and low for anything in the mansion that could be strange. Finally, there was a cry, "I found something!" Everyone went to the voice and found Quas's group in front of a big door. "This wasn't here when we came here," Iggy said.

"It was behind a secret wall," Aurora explained, "I just happened to press on the button."

"As in accidentally leaning on a wall when you were too 'tired' to go on." mocked Quas.

"Can we just go through the door?" asked Blade impatiently.

. . .

The door led them into a long dark hallway. At the end, there before them was a gigantic room filled with lanterns and pillers holding up the ceiling. "Be on guard," warned Claw, "This is the only place where Genso could hide, assuming you guys searched every inch of this place." Suddenly a deafening roar came from all sides. The keyblade wielders summoned their keyblades, ready for what made that noise.

"You think this is Genso's work?" asked Quas as she was still looking around.

"No," said Claw, "Genso may be a master at illusions but he could never make a sound like that."

"Over there!" Aurora pointed at the wall farthest to them. All of them looked as they saw a massive black lizard-like creature come out of the wall. It had armor that covered its chest and front two legs. The armor had a face on the side which looked alive. On its head had a red crystal which didn't seem to shine at all. It had a horn and what seemed to be tusks coming outward from its mouth and lower jaw. When looked carefully, its entire right side is completely dark with even its right eye not being visible but what caught the wielders attention the most was the heartless symbol on the monster's chest.

"It's a Heartless!" yelled Hydro.

"REALLY?" yelled Blade, "WHAT MAKES YOU SAY THAT!"

The giant heartless roared again and as if summoned, Illuminators appeared all around the room and began sucking all the light from the room. Quas held her Oathkeeper tightly. _Will we get out of here alive?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not owned by me, it is owned by Square Enix. **

* * *

><p>Heart of Light<p>

"Stay close," said Claw, "By the time we strike, the Illuminators will get the last bit of light left."

The others nodded. As the light faded the giant Heartless began to blend into the darkness.

"Never seen that type of Heartless before," said Iggy.

"It appears to be a new type," replied Blade.

Finally, the darkness consumed the whole room, leaving only the Illuminators' eyes as a light source. "I don't hear that new Heartless," said Quas.

"I know," said Claw, "Something that big should at least make some noise."

"Unless…," started Blade, "Everybody spread out!" The group broke out of their formation just in time before a dozen black spikes came out of the floor. "Tch…this heartless can go into the walls and floors like a Shadow."

"I think we should get rid of the Illuminators first so we can see what we're fighting," suggested Myst.

"Agreed," replied Blade, "However, why not make them come to us." He raised his hand up and said, "Magnega!" A giant orb appeared above Blade and began to attract the Illuminators towards it. The ones that were closer to the spell got stuck on to the orb. They were quickly dispatched of by the keyblade wielders and areas around the room were beginning be filled by light.

"Good," said Claw, "Now take out the re-" Claw barely move to the side where another black spike came from the darkness. "Claw!" Quas moved to his side with Flash following right behind her, "Are you all right?"

Claw felt the side of his cheek. It felt very warm and it was easy to see that something was dripping down from his face. "It's fine, just a scratch. Can't believe I let my guard down."

"The giant Heartless seems to be able to use the dark areas of room to his advantage," said Blade.

"So if we take out the Illuminators, it can't surprise us with those spikes anymore," said Raenx.

"Exactly."

"Then let's so get them," Quas said with her Oathkeeper over her shoulder.

The wielders fought hard, eliminating the Heartless while barely dodging the very accurate spikes coming from the room. Finally, the whole room was radiant once more with only three Illuminators left. With the room ridden with darkness, the giant Heartless appeared once more. The remaining Illuminators came up to it's side.

"So what now?" asked Iggy.

"I don't suggest we should attack head on," answered Quas, "We still know little about this Heartless capabilities."

"How about testing his defenses?" asked Flash

"How?"

"Like this," said Blade, "Firaga!" A giant fire ball appeared in front of him and was headed straight toward the new Heartless. It was a direct hit, blasting right into the chest. "Yeah!"

"Strange," said Aurora, shooing away the smoke, "It didn't seem like it was dodging it."

"It's probably too slow to move," said Blade, "Even if it didn't want to dodge, there was no way it could of not damage-"

"Aerora!" Quas summoned a shield of wind around them blocking a laser that came from the direction of the Heartless. It shattered the wind shield instantly and knocking everyone back.

"Agh, is everyone -cough- all right?" asked Hydro looking around at his friends.

"Ye…yeah," replied Aurora, "Damn it Blade, why did you have to jinx it."

"Shut up."

"Where's Quas?" asked Myst, "She's the one that took in most of the blast."

"Over…here." The group turned to see her near a pile of rubble. She waved and smiled weakly, "Sorry…my spell wasn't strong enough."

"Never mind that," said Raenx, "Where's the Heartless?"

"It's coming towards us!" exclaimed Aurora. The Heartless came into view and looked unharmed.

"Looking for another fight, huh?" Blade said with a smirk, "Alright then, Curag-" Suddenly, a dark tentacle wrapped around Blade's body, covering everything except his eyes. _What! Where?_ He saw that the tentacle came from the Heartless's back. Then more tentacles came out of it's back and wrapped the others too, leaving them unable to do anything. The Heartless slowly walked up to the helpless wielders and seemed to examine them. Only Quas saw the small tentacle coming from the Heartless but it didn't really look like tentacle. It looked more like a mouth. Then she figured out what was going on. The Heartless is beginning to eat their hearts and is choosing which person to eat first. Fear ran to Quas' eyes when the Heartless looked at Aurora. _If only I could get out of here. _Quas tried everything but the tentacle's grip was too strong. _Does it really end here? We wait for our hearts be taken by this_ _monster?_

"It can be if you want it to be." Quas turned around to see a man sitting casually on the pile of rubble. He was wearing a mask that covered his eyes and a helmet of some sort. _Did you read my mind? _"Maybe I did," he said with a smile, "But I think you should focus on your friends, they don't seem to be doing well." Quas looked back and saw that the tentacle with the mouth was getting ready to strike Aurora's heart. _Please, can't you do anything? _

"I can, just not right now."

_What's that supposed_ _to mean? My friends are going to die, please save them._

"Just wait another 3 seconds." The man didn't seem to care at all what's happening. Quas looked at the Heartless, the mouth was moving back, as if it was going to shrike her right into Aurora's chest.

"There," The man put his hand on Quas, "Stopga!" Quas looked back again to see that time had stopped but she knew that this spell had a limited duration.

"I wish you luck." The man sliced the tentacle that was holding her with a strange keyblade.

"Whew, thank…you." The man wasn't there anymore and there was no sign that man was ever there. "Was that…an illusion? If it was…then was it…ACK AURORA!" Quas ran to her friend and saw that time was starting to start again. _No time to block it. I guess I have to…_

. . .

Aurora saw something near the Heartless and saw that it was a mouth. It was going back and she realized what it was going to do. When it launched at her, she looked away. Aurora waited. She didn't feel anything. Aurora slowly look back saw a horrifying sight. A figure blocked the attacked for her and realized that it was her friend. Quas looked back to her. "You're…ach…alright?"

_Quas! You risked your life for me? _The Heartless looked surprised but it didn't matter, another person's heart was as good as another. Quas winced in pain, she could feel the dark tentacle inside her, trying to find her heart. Then she felt something bright on her face.

_Light?_ Quas looked down and saw that light was coming out the area where the tentacle is. _Light…coming from my heart? _The light seemed to travel within the tentacle, making it bright also and it was progressing its way to the Heartless. The Heartless noticed it and removed the tentacle right away but it was too late, the light had already traveled into the Heartless itself. It roared in pain and went into an outrage. The tentacles that were holding the others released their grip and went back to the rampaging Heartless. The wielders ran up to Quas who was laying down with her hand over heart. The light faded when they came by her side.

"We need to get out of here fast," Blade said, "The Heartless could bring down the whole room in that behavior."

"Quas!" exclaimed Aurora, "You're bleeding." Blood was flowing down from where the mouth was.

"Here, I'll make it better," Flash said, "Curaga." A green aura surrounded the wound.

"Thank you Flash," Quas said weakly, "It still hurts but most of the pain went away." The Heartless roared again and crashed against the pillars in the room. The pillars broke and the ceiling they were holding was began to crumble down.

"Kaiser, can you still walk?" Claw asked.

"Yes but I don't think I can get out of here in this condition." To her surprise, Claw put her on his back. "Hurry! This room is not going to hold up any longer." The group ran to the exit door, avoiding debris falling from the ceiling. When the last person went in the exit, the door was blocked by the debris. Then there was one last roar but it stopped in mid cry when the sound of more debris falling.

. . .

Everybody began to relax when they came to the main room of the mansion. "So…," Iggy said, "We failed the mission."

"The mission was to find Genso and capture him," Claw answered, "So yes, you failed in completing the mission."

"After all that," Hydro said, "We didn't get anything."

"I was wondering," Blade said, "Quas, how did you get out of the Heartless' grip and what in the world was that light?"

"Umm, well first, someone helped me get out of it. For the light, even I don't know."

"Someone helped you?" asked Flash

"Yeah, but he made it that the only way of saving you guys was putting my own life on the line." Quas looked up to Claw. "I can guess what you think who that person is."

Claw shook his head. "What matters now that everybody is alive."

Blade looked over his shoulder and saw Myst pondering about something. "Something on your mind, Myst?"

"It's just that light…I think I know what it is."

"Please feel free to explain."

"I remember about reading something of people having pure hearts."

"Pure hearts?" Quas asked

"Yeah, hearts that have no darkness in them. When that Heartless attacked you, it would of taken your heart but instead light came out instead."

"So you're saying," Blade said, "That Quas has this 'pure heart'?"

Myst nodded, "It's the only reason that I can think of."

A sudden noise came from somewhere within the room. The wielders got ready for any remaining Heartless. Claw pointed to where he heard the noise. Him, Raenx, and Flash went to the location while the others protected Quas. They went into a hallway and disappeared from view. "Quas!" it sounded like Flash. "Do you have any siblings?"

"No…why?"

"I think you should have a look at this." Quas got up and walked into the hallway and found Flash and the others standing near what appears to be a boy about her age. The person was sitting back against the wall and his head lowered.

"What's a boy doing here?" Quas asked.

"Wait," said Claw, "It gets more mysterious." Claw removed the boy's hood and showed Quas his face. Quas gasped. The boy had white hair and his face looks almost identical to hers.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not owned by me, it is owned by Square Enix. **

* * *

><p>Decisive Battle<p>

Darkness. That was all he saw around him. _Where…am I?_ He then saw that he was falling. Falling into a great abyss. This lasted for what it seemed to be an eternity until he began to mysteriously slow down. He felt standing on something but he couldn't see what it was. All of a sudden, doves came out of no where under him and flew past him. He watched them go into the darkness and looked down to see a stained glass portrait. It was a portrait of people fighting a dark creature.

_**Who are you? **_

He turned around. There was someone else here with him.

_**How did you get here?**_

The boy tried to speak but nothing came out but silence.

_**You brought something with you.**_

He heard something coming and turned to the direction of the sound. The boy noticed that the darkness around him began to eat up the stained glass. As it ate about an eight of the glass, the sound grew louder. He began to step back slowly. The darkness was closing in on him and the sound grew much louder. He stopped, realizing that he had no more ground left. Seeing that he has no where else to run, he decided that the only thing left to do was to face what's coming towards him. The stained glass was covered up by the darkness except the part that he was standing on. The sound stopped all of a sudden. _What now. _Through the tiny light that he had, the boy saw something coming out of the floor. He couldn't make out any details but he saw that this thing had a big yellow eye. Suddenly, a tentacle came out of nowhere and grabbed his legs. The figure came closer to the helpless boy, close enough for the light to shine on it's face. It was still hard to see but he noticed a red crystal on its head. Right now, any other person would be terrified in this situation but not him. Somehow, the creature look familiar to him somehow. Then more tentacles came and began to wrap around his body. He looked to his side and saw more creatures around him. They were all going toward him. He tried to wrestle free but it was no use. As more tentacles wrap around him, he accepted his fate. _There's nothing that could be done now. I'll just wait for the inevitable._ He closed his eyes and waited for the creatures to take him. However, he then heard shrieks of pain. He opened his eyes again, only to be blinded by a bright light. The light seemed to be drawing the creatures away from him, including the darkness covering the glass and the one-eyed creature. The light grew brighter and he held his arm over his eyes.

_**So…You ha…one. **_

The voice was fainter this time and the light grew brighter and brighter.

_**We…il…me…agai….…ne.**_

. . .

"Look! He's waking up."

"I can't believe it worked." Quas was overjoyed to see the boy wake up from his sleep. It has been 3 days since the events at the mansion and during that time, the boy had been sleeping in the infirmary in the school. Through Flash's fantastic idea, well to her anyway, Claw didn't approve of this, he had finally woken up. He looked around the room, wondering where he was.

"So…who's going to talk first?" Flash asked. In the room with Quas was Flash and Aurora.

"Well I think Quas should," Aurora replied, "They're the ones that look similar."

"I was going to talk to him anyway," Quas said with a smile. She walked up to the infirmary bed leaned over to the boy. Both of them just looked at each other, waiting for the other person to say something. Finally, Quas put her hand in front of her and said, "HI there! My name is Quas. What's yours."

The boy shook her hand and opened his mouth to reply to her but no words came out. He tried again but all attempts were useless. _I…I can't speak. _Quas leaned her head to the side. "Are you all right?"

"Sadly he's not." Everybody looked to see Claw by the door holding some documents in his hand.

"What do you mean by that?" Flash asked, while hugging Claw.

"Well…," Claw pushed Flash away, "The doctors found a lot of information about him. One thing that they found was that he probably has amnesia."

_Amnesia? Ridiculous, I can remember…remember…._ He put his hand over the back over his head to try to remember his past, but he found that he had bump there. Claw noticed his actions. "We assumed that you must of somehow hit your head when you were in the mansion." _Mansion? Why was I there in the first place?_

"Is there anything more about him?" Quas asked.

Claw looked at the documents again. "The papers say that he can't talk because he has no vocal cords." _No vocal cords?_ _Did I really hit my head that hard to forget that? _

"And that he's right eye is blind." _…I have nothing to say._

"Really?" Flash walked up to the boy and waved his hand over the blind eye. "Can you see my hand?" _Hope he knows that I still see it with my other eye_.

"Anything else?" Quas asked.

"Hmm. Nope, that's all."

"Are you sure you aren't forgetting something?" Aurora said while pointing to Quas and the boy.

"Nope. That's all there to report. By the way, the headmaster wants to see you, Kaiser."

"For what?"

"He wants you to talk about some important matters."

"Ok…," Quas looked back at the boy. She wanted to know more about him but that has to wait for now. Quas followed Claw to Duncan's office. When they arrived, Duncan was sitting in his chair and was pondering about something. "I brought her sir." Claw said.

Duncan turned around and smiled. "Ah, thank you Claw. Quas come here." Quas came up to Duncan and he hugged her. "I'm glad your all right."

Quas blushed, "Father, you're embarrassing me."

"I'm the only one here." Claw said.

"Besides me that is." Flash said

"…How did you get in?"

. . .

"So what do you want to talk about Headmaster?" Quas asked.

"It's about the boy you found." Duncan replied.

"What about him?"

"Well first things first, he has similar traits as you."

"Yes he does. I was wondering where he came from and that he might be a long lost twin of mine."

"Sadly, that cannot be true."

"What do you mean? He's not from around here?"

"No, I sent people to towns and villages near the mansion to see if a person of his description has gone missing. No one reported having such a person in the first place. I even investigated about your family and found no reports of you having a twin brother."

"But then, where did he came from then and why does he look like me?"

"The reason why you two look alike is a reason I can't think of. However, Claw and I made three identities this boy could have. One, he was a runaway and came into the mansion as shelter. Two,…"

"Two?"

"I'm sorry Quas but the following identities will make him look like a bad person and I know you see this boy as a good person."

"…Let me hear the rest."

"Two, he is a servant to Genso. Claw told me that he was there and we concluded that the boy might be in cahoots with him. Finally, three, he is Genso."

"Even if he is, he lost his memories. He can start a new life."

"I say we should get rid of him," Claw suggested

"I say that…" Flash started

"Excuse me." Claw opened the door, grabbed Flash and threw him out. The sound of a desk breaking could be heard. "Back on the subject, I think we really should dispose of him."

"Explain." Duncan said.

"If he is indeed Genso, there is the chance that he may regain his memories and remember who he is."

"That's true."

"But that's only if he is Genso," Quas said.

"But what if he is Genso," Claw retorted.

Quas turned to Duncan, "Father, what do you think we should do about him."

Duncan stroked his beard, "I don't know. I don't want to chose between my loyal servant and my daughter. How about this? You two come back some time later and I'll make a decision." Both of them nodded. As they left the room, Quas noticed that Claw was hiding behind the door.

"Do you see anyone?" Claw asked her.

"No one but the office lady over there."

"Are you sure?"

"From what I can see, yes." Claw slowly made his way to the room. At his 1st step into the room, Flash came from above and landed on Claw.

"Hi Claw, I've been waiting for you." Flash said with a smile.

"HOW DID YOU GET UP THERE?"

. . .

Quas went back to the infirmary to talk to the boy but he was gone. She noticed a nurse and went up to her. "Excuse me but can you tell me where the patient has gone?"

"Oh him. He was feeling better and wanted to take a walk and a student volunteered to give him a tour around the school. They haven't gone long so you may catch up to them."

"Thank you." On her way out, Quas stopped and turned around. "By the way, do you know which student took him?"

"I think it was one of your friends."

"The one with the aurora hair?"

"Yes that's the one."

"Thanks again." Quas left and went around the whole school to search for Aurora. Eventually, she found out from the other students that Aurora is showing the boy the school garden. When she got there, Quas found Aurora showing the boy some of the flowers in the garden.

"Hi there."

Aurora and the boy looked up. "Oh, hi Quas. I just finished giving him the tour."

"You could of told me first. I still wanted to talk to him."

"Well he wanted to go out and he doesn't know the layout of the school." As they continued to argue, the boy began to process the information that was given to him. _Ok, so basically I was found in a abandoned mansion in the middle of a forest. I have no memories of who I was. There's also the fact that girl over looks like me. Could we be related somehow? _When he looked up, the two had stopped talking and the one that gave him the tour walked back inside the school. The other girl approached him a give him a smile.

"So," she started, "Did you like the tour?"

"…"

"Right…," Quas said while putting her finger over her mouth, "How are we going to make this work? You still remember how to write right?" The boy shrugged. "We'll find out then." Quas took the boy to the school library. She handed him a notebook and a pencil. The boy found out that he can still write and began to have their conversation. It started out fine but with the absence of the boy's memory, there wasn't a lot both of them can talk about. Netherless, both of them had a great time 'talking' to each other and for the first time, Quas saw the boy smile.

"I see you two are doing well." They both turned to Blade who just came into the library.

"We are." Quas replied.

"Sorry to ruin the fun but Duncan made his decision and wants you in his office."

"Already?"

"Yeah, so get over there."

"Fine, but let me get something first." Quas got up and went up to a shelf. The boy follwed her and saw her getting a decent sized book. "Here it's for you." The book was a filled with names. "I figured since you're going to be here a while, you're going to need a name." The boy nodded.

"Blade, do you have time to help him choose a name?"

"Sure, why not?" Quas left the two in their pursuit for a name and arrived in Duncan's office with Claw already there.

"Ok she's here," said Claw, "Now tell us what are you going to do with that boy."

"It's not my decision."

"What do you mean?" Quas said.

"I decided to let to answer to this adjudication be between you two. I have arranged a match at the Arena for both of you to duel against each other."

"So whoever wins gets your premission to either have the boy stay or leave?" asked Claw

Duncan nodded. "Correct."

"All right then, when will this match begin."

"It is scheduled to start in 1 hour."

"That early?" Quas said.

"If we were in a real emergency, we will have very little time to get ready so I'm making this like if we were in that scernario."

Claw shrugged. "Good enough me. I'll be waiting for you Kaiser." Claw left the room, leaving father and daughter alone.

"You better not hold back Quas," Duncan said, "I haven't been able to see you fight so I expect much from you."

"Don't worry," Quas replied, "I'll do my best to beat Claw. Might as well start preparing for the match." Quas waved Duncan goodbye and hurried out the room to practice. However, she wanted to check if Blade and her twin found a name. Quas arrived, only to see that the book was opened and had markings on it. The book was filled with circles with crosses on it, looking like they picked names but decided not to use it. Quas moved through every page and eventually found a name that was circled. _Malix_.

. . .

The Arena is the biggest building of the school and is only used for special duels or for the second part of the Mark of Mastery. It design is similar to a colliseum, a huge circle for wielders to fight on with seats high above, circling around it for viewers to watch them duel. The Arena also had a special seat for the Headmaster which was the best spot to view the battles held high here. Already, it is filled with students, waiting for the battle between Claw and Quas. In the croud, a worried Aurora was thinking about the match. Around her was her group of friends and the newly named Malix.

"Do you think she can handle Claw?" Hydro asked.

"I doubt it," said Blade, "I barely beated him. I don't think she stands a chance." Blade glanced over to Malix. "How about you?" Malix ignored him. He was too busy thinking about the duel. _If I heard right, this 'Claw' person is an expert in using his…what was the wepon called again? A keyblade? _He recalled during his conversation with Quas that everyone here uses a keyblade. "It's basically a giant key looking sword that can use magic." Quas said when she was explaining it to him. _If the rumors are true, I hope that she will come out all right. _

Headmaster Ducan then appeared in his seat and the Arena became silent. "I appreciate you all coming here on so short notice. To not keeping you wait much longer, the match will start now."

Two gates on different sides of the Arena began to open.

Quas came out first and students cheered for her. She smiled and waved at them. When Claw came out, the staduim deaden except one voice who yelled, "WHOO! GO CLAW!"

The two approached each other and met in the middle of the Arena.

"Wielders! Summon your keyblades!" Duncan said with great authority. Quas summoned her Oathkeeper and readied herself for battle. Claw raised his hand up and began summoning his Keyblade. Instead of a appearing as a whole, his keyblade started showing the handle and then going in out in opposite directions. Quas was struck with surprise. Claw's keyblade was very unique, being a doube bladed scythe with the handle in the middle. It's keychain was a bat's wing.

"What's wrong? Didin't see this at the mansion?" Claw sked.

"Well it was completely dark in the room so I couldn't actually see it."

"Now you can see it up close and personal."

"Begin!" Duncan said.

Claw charged at Quas with his keyblade about to do a overhead strike. Quas flipped back and casted a Fira spell while in the air but was easily countered by Claw's Firaga. When she landed, Quas used Blizzara and shot multiple ice crystals at Claw. Instead of simiply blocking them, Claw charged forward, hitting dodging and knocked away all the crystals. Knowing that she can't run, she used Aerora shield herself. Claw did another overhead swing and broke the shield, but the scythe went through the shaft of Quas' Oathkeeper, barely stopping it.

"What's wrong?" Claw said, trying to force his keyblade down, "Why don't you use physical combat?"

"I prefer using spells," Quas said, her arms shaking from the weight of Claw's strength.

"Sooner or later, you have to resort to close combat." Claw kicked her leg and swung the other side of his keyblade at her. Quickly, Quas used Gravira to pull the keyblade and Claw down.

"Wow, she's actually doing good," said Balde.

"I don't know who to cheer for," said Flash, "Eh, who am I kidding. GO CLAW."

With Claw down, she hurled her keyblade at him. On contact, he fell back and felt like he had been hit by a Thunder spell. "A Thunder Raid huh?" He got back up and began spinning his keyblade. "Let's see you blocking this." He shot a giant fire ball in the air.

"Wait…," Iggy said, "That looks like a…"

"A Mega Flare?" Quas yelled. Soon, the fire exploded in a very wide area, almost hitting the students too. When it ended, there some fire burring on the ground. There was still smoke was Quas' last location was. Claw smiled, believing that he had won. Suddenly, a spray of light came from the smoke and headed straight for Claw. He managed to block them all, but then what seems to be a Ragnarok came out of the smoke and targeted him again. Instead of trying to block them, Claw brought his keyblade back and waited. Just as the Ragnarok was about to hit him, Claw charged forward and slashed everything past the smoke. A thud was heard right after. After the smoke finally cleared, Quas was laying on the ground face first. As she slowly got back up, a scythe appeared near her neck.

"Looks like I won."

"What…what was that slash you did," Quas said, out of breath.

"It's called a Zantetsuken. Really handy ability."

"Yeah, it was able to break my Ragnarok."

"Hmph, just accept defeat, there's nothing you can do now."

"Are you sure?" Claw paused and noticed that Quas' keyblade was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, something passed Claw's face, close enough to hear it dash through the air. It was an Oathkeeper.

"I could of easily hitted your head there. Decided not to since this is a duel and not a full on fight."

"Explain."

"During being consealed in the smoke, I threw my keyblade up into the air and used Magnera to change it's path to where it is now. I used Stopra while it was in the air to have it wait there until you came."

As Claw took this in, he couldn't help to give a smile. A student could of beated him. He moved away the scythe from Quas' neck and put his hand toward her. "Want to call it a draw?"

Quas smiled. "Sure." She grabbed his hand and got up. The students applauded for the great duel, including Duncan himself. In the crowd, Malix thought he saw Quas blush. _Is it that the crowd is too much for her? _Then he noticed that Quas was still holding Claw's hand. _Or is it something else?_

. . .

"Hey Claw." Claw turned to see Blade leaning against the wall.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, just walking by and decided to say hello. Great match though, almost losing to a student and all."

"Goodbye." Claw began to walk away.

"Oh yeah, out of curiosity, how did Flash wake up the person we found?"

Claw sighed. "Let's just say he's not called Flash for nothing."

"What do you mean by…GAH." A bright light came out of nowhere. When it went away, Blade saw that it was Flash with a flashlight.

"Flash!" Flash said doing it again.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU." Claw face palmed and just continued walking away from this mess.

* * *

><p><strong>To clear up something, the spray of light during the fight was a Reflera spell. <strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not owned by me, it is owned by Square Enix.**

**Sorry this took a long time.**

* * *

><p>A Keyblade Wielder is Born<p>

_**You came back.**_

Malix opened his eyes. He was in that place with the stained glass portrait again.

_**They are coming back too. Arm yourself. **_

Three weapons appeared in front of him. One was a sword with a blue hilt. Another was a red and black shield. The last one was a staff. They all have the symbol of what seems to be a mouse head. He didn't know which to choose, but for some reason, Malix chose the sword. He swung it around with one hand to get used to the weight.

_**You chose the power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction.**_

_Terrible destruction? _Now Malix didn't want to use it anymore. The dark creatures came again, but with the light from the glass, he can see them. They were small creatures, having a spherical head with antennas. He handled them off easily. It was strange for Malix because he seemed to already know how to use a sword. After the last creature was defeated, it was all quiet again. Suddenly, the floor below him began to shake and a dark portal appeared on the glass. A large creature slowly came out from it. It had a red crystal on it's forehead with tusks coming from its mouth and lower jaw, complete with armor and a strange symbol. Malix stepped back, thinking if he should attempt to fight this one.

_**Don't be afraid.**_

The creature roared and then more creatures appeared around him. The new creatures were chameleon-like and had a lantern for a tail. Their eyes strangely became brighter until Malix noticed that everything around him is becoming darker. When it was completely dark, all he could see was the eyes of the creatures around him. Suddenly, something sharp went past him. Then more and more sharp objects lunged a him while Malix barely managed to dodge them. _How am I supposed to defeat them in this position? _Malix dodged another attack and saw that it accidentally hit one of the chameleon monsters, making it vanish. A brief flash of light illuminated where it disappeared but was quickly replaced with more darkness. With new knowledge, Malix began to get rid of the chameleon monsters. It was relatively easy to find them because of their glowing eyes. After defeating them all, the darkness faded away, with only the large creature left. Malix charged and attacked the massive creature with his sword, but it had little effect. The creature seemed to be bored of this battle and swung its large claw at Malix. It struck, knocking him back toward the edge of the glass. He was in massive pain from the attack, but managed to get back up. The creature, then, began to charge something in it's mouth. Malix tried to run up and attack it while it's charging an attack, but fell down in the process. Finished charging, the creature fired a dark laser at Malix. He put his sword in front of him, hoping that it will block some of the attack.

"Reflega!" A barrier of light materialized around Malix and reflected the laser back at the creature. The monster got knocked off from the platform by the blast and fell into the darkness below.

Malix lowered his sword and saw a person in front of him. He was wearing armor and wore a mask that covered everything but his mouth.

"Whew!" he said, "That was a close one." He turned to Malix and offered him his hand. "You all right?"

Malix looked at the hand. "What's wrong?" the person chuckled, "Never saw a hand before?" Malix glared at him for a bit, but grabbed the hand and got up.

"Nice battle there," the masked person said, "But taking on the big one was a little foolish."

_Well there wasn't any other option_, Malix said in his head.

"True."

Malix paused. _Did this stranger read my thoughts?_

"Sure did. Before you ask any questions, I came here to give you this." The person summoned what seemed to be a keyblade. It had an orange handle and a long shaft. The blade's teeth was a sideways fleur-de-lis and its keychain was an arrowhead with a diamond-shaped hole. He tossed it to Malix who grabbed it with his free arm. It was much heavier than the sword, but Malix can tell the keyblade has way more power.

"You'll need it when you wake up."

_Why's that?_

"Heh, let's just say that those black creatures aren't only in your dreams." Before Malix could ask any thing else, the stranger kicked him off the platform. As he fell, Malix heard a voice call his name. It was soft at first, but then it grew louder and louder, until a bright light began to surround him.

. . .

"Malix! Wake up!" Quas shook her look alike for the tenth time. It has been a few weeks after the battle with Claw. Since it was a tie, Duncan let Malix stay until they knew what to do with him. However, today will change that.

Finally, he opened his eyes. "Finally, you need to get out of here, there's been an attack on the school."

_An attack?_

"All the people that can't fend off the attack are placed in the assembly room. That means you too." Quas guided Malix through the school hallways, hearing battle beyond the walls. Suddenly, the wall in front of them collapsed. Five creatures slowly walked into hallway. They had thin bodies but what seems to be a hammer connected in their chests. A familiar symbol was on the front of the hammer

"Hammer Frames." Quas said. She summoned her keyblade. "Malix, go through that hallway. Make a left and you be able to get to the assembly. Go now!"

Malix nodded. The last view of Quas was her charging at the Hammer Frames. He followed the hallway and saw the fork in the hall. He turned left as instructed, but bumped into something hard. He looked up to see a giant head of a dog with three yellow eyes. Malix stepped back and saw that it was just a shield and behind it was a knight in purple and blue armor. The knight swung his shield at him, forcing Malix into the wall. He fell down, gasping for air. Looking back up, he saw the knight raise the shield, ready to swing it down upon him. It never came down, however, the knight paused and looked at Malix.

_He isn't going to finish me off? _Then a keyblade thrust its way through the knight's armor. The attacker groaned and disappeared, along with the shield, and a heart flew up, disappearing as well.

"You ok?" The girl named Iggy was in front of him. Malix nodded.

"That's good. Hurry to the assembly room where it will be safe." Nodding again, Malix ran down the hallway. Finally, he had reached his destination. Malix saw dozens of students, probably too inexperienced to fight, enter the room. As he entered himself, there were actually about at least over two hundred students, all afraid of the attack.

"Everyone!" it was Claw, standing on the platform where he or Duncan would speak to the academy, "Stay calm. I have news that the heartless attack is almost finished."

_Heartless._ The word echoed in Malix's head. He never heard of the word before, but it was so familiar to him.

"I received news that there only minor heartless left so everything should be…" A huge explosion interrupted Claw and falling debris crashed down into the room. When Malix looked at the gaping hole in the roof, the two huge humanoid knights, wearing silver and grey armor with a twisted antenna sticking out of its helmets, wielding two twin blades didn't get his attention but the massive blue dragon with webbed wings, two rows of symbols on its bottom, a twisted tail, and yellow spikes along its back did. All had that familiar symbol.

"Minor heartless my butt!" yelled a student, "That's a fricken Storm Rider!"

"FINALLY!" Malix turned around to see Blade with his keyblade. He had a unusually big smile on his face. "Something that actually doesn't die in one hit!" Blade jumped up to the Storm Rider and literally kicked it out of view. "You're not getting away from me!" He went after the huge dragon, leaving Claw to handle to two knights.

"Of course Blade would leave me like this," Claw muttered as he summoned his double bladed scythe keyblade, "Everyone, stay behind me! I'll hold the Dual Blades off until more help arrives!" The two Dual Blades charged at Claw, moving in a figure eight. They simultaneously jumped and landed near him, causing a big shockwave, but Claw jumped in time to dodge it. He used his Strike Raid ability while in mid air , throwing his keyblade multiple times at the Heartless. It made contact, but the Dual Blades didn't flinch. One of the Dual Blades made a small tornado and launched it at Claw. In return, he casted a Firaga spell, going through the tornado and hitting the Dual Blade. When the smoke from the spell cleared, there was only one Dual Blade there. Franticly, Claw looked for the other and saw that it was above him. Its blades were green, showing they were charged. He swung his keyblade so that the scythe stabbed the Dual Blade and then, he threw it out of the hole made by the Storm Rider. Claw turned to the students and saw that the other Dual Blade was approaching them. He started towards them, but then he heard something behind him. Two big hands grabbed him, preventing him to save the students.

_A Carrier Ghost?_ Claw thought. He recognized the hands, but that was all. The grip of the heartless was too much, he can only watch as the Dual Blade slowly walk up to the students. Then, he noticed Quas in the crowd. _What's Quas doing here? I thought she was outside fending off the Heartless. Or is it him…_

Malix watched as the students get into the corner of the room, trying to get as far away from the heartless as possible. One little girl with red hair fell down and she was dangerously close to the Dual Blade. It saw the helpless girl and was already above her before she could react. The fear on her face shows that this was going to be a good heart. The Dual Blade raised its sword, ready to strike. The girl closed her eyes, whimpering for help. The sound of metal falling came after. The girl opened her eyes and saw someone on top of the Heartless. It was a boy with white hair and he pointed towards the group of students, signaling to get away. The Dual Blade knocked Malix off It jumped towards him, and was ready to strike. Malix waited. It didn't strike. It put the blade down and went towards the students again.

Claw saw this and never before he had seen anything like that before. A heartless walking away from a perfect chance to get someone's heart. In Malix's mind, he was cursing at himself. He intended for the Heartless, or so they are called, to attack him or anything so that the students could escape. For some reason, it ignored him. _If only I can actually defeat it…but I would need a…_Suddenly, a voice echoed in his head, saying, "You'll need it when you wake up." He looked at his hand. Then, he focused all his energy into it. A small light started to appear in his hand. Malix focused more energy, until the light widened greatly. It disappeared and in its place was the same blade that was in his dreams.

"A Midnight Roar Keyblade," Claw said, "What more secrets does he hold."

"Blizzara!" Claw suddenly felt a cold chill behind his back. The hands vanished and he could finally move. Behind him was Quas.

"Where'd you come from?" Claw asked as he rubbed off the chunks of ice off his back.

"Through the hole in the roof," replied Quas, "I noticed it when Blade kicked the Storm Rider. Oh! Malix is a wielder!"

"It seems so." The Dual Blade turned, sensing a Keyblade. When it saw that the blade was in Malix's possession, it paused. Then at the same time, both of them charged at each other, ready to swing their blades. Malix's swing broke one of the Dual Blade's swords while his didn't have a dent.

"Such strength!" exclaimed Quas. The Dual Blade staggered back and started to charge its sword.

"Malix!" He turned around to see Quas. "Try using a Thunder spell!"

_A spell?_ If he was a Keyblade Wielder, surely he must know a spell or two. He aimed his Midnight Roar at the heartless and mentally said 'Thunder' in his head. A decent sized lighting bolt came out from the sky and striked the Dual Blade. It fell down and Malix used this to his advantage. He leaped towards it and forced his keyblade down into its chest. The heartless disappeared and yet again, a heart came out and flew up.

. . .

Malix summoned his keyblade to examine it for the third time. He was sitting in his room, which has a hole on one of the walls. The academy may be in ruins now, but Duncan said in time, it shall be rebuilt. As Malix examined his keyblade, he tried to recall any memory that relates to him being a wielder. Nothing. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He got up and opened the door and Quas was there, accompanied with the little girl from before.

"Malix," Quas said with a smile, "This girl wants to tell you something. The girl could be no older than 10, but has that look of a Keyblade Wielder.

"Thank you, Mister, for saving me." Malix tapped her head, the only response he could give to her.

"Ok Gummi, go help the others." said Quas. Gummi nodded and went away.

"I have news from the headmaster. Duncan had heard of you having a keyblade and he decided to have you stay here. He also has something special for the two of us."

Malix gesture her to tell more. "The last thing he told me to tell you that I have to personally train you and teach you how to use your spells."

Malix raised an eyebrow. Quas shrugged. "I don't know why, but he's the headmaster. Look on the bright side, we would be together for the whole training. We'll start the day after tomorrow." After that, Malix never dreamt of that place with the glass tower again.

. . .

A masked man leaned back on the wall. Around him was complete darkness. Suddenly, a Illuminator heartless appeared in front of him.

"…I see, so he has been called upon his keyblade." He chuckled. "Everything is according to plan. Soon, Duncan will fall."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not owned by me, it is owned by Square Enix.**

Yeaaaaa, not dead.

Discoveries

* * *

><p>3 months later...<p>

A small Shadow Heartless crawled under the moonlit sky. It was another time to hunt. Time to hunt hearts. It was not alone. With it was a whole pack of Shadows. Leading them were 3 Neoshadows. They were approaching a small town, population of probably 20. The town was remote, in the middle of a forest so any call for help was out of the way. The NeoShadows halted, the pack halting behind them also. Lights could be seen in the thicket of the trees. Ironic how the light can help the darkness. The Heartless continued their march and branched off into small groups. The plan: surround the town and feast upon their hearts. While doing this, one Neoshadow stopped, sensing something strange. It was a familiar feel, but it was a mixture of some sort. It felt another presence of a Heartless yet it was accompanied with the presence of fear. Fear and hate. The Neoshadow asked if any of the other Heartless sensed it, but they sensed nothing.

The town had completely fell asleep. The only sounds coming from the houses are children and adults sleeping. It was perfect. The shadows made from the moonlight crept towards the houses like wolves ready to pounce on their victim. When inside the vicinity, the Heartless dragged themselves out of the ground, showing their pure black bodies in the faint moonlight. Their luminous yellow eyes peered at the houses. The Neoshadows led their own groups and parted, choosing the first victims of their feast. One group seeped into the ground and crawled under the walls of the house. The other side was a bedroom and sleeping on the bed was a little male child. His heartbeat echoed to the Heartless, making them crave the heart more. Seeing that nothing can save the child now, they rushed towards him, eager to have the first bite of the heart. The sound of a slash followed and all the heartless disintegrated. The child woke up in shock and saw a big figure holding a strange sword. The figure put his finger to his lips and silently walked outside. The child snuggled his blanket and thought to himself, he was right.

. . .

"The town is safe," reported Quas. Her hair gained some length over the months and was put into a ponytail. "The trap was a complete success."

Duncan read the report again, making sure he had read it right. "So it has. This was the fourth time in the row. You were right about him Quas, this ability will be of use to us."

It was an average day in the academy. The sky was covered with clouds, students were either chatting or sparring, and classes went by with no problems. There hasn't been any accidents for a week. Duncan was quite pleased with the week's events, but he was more interested in something else, actually someone; Malix. He had proved himself to be an excellent student. Months of tactics and magic was only days to him. Rivaling a few, he is one of the best in the school.

The best thing, though, was finding a special ability Malix had. For some reason, Heartless could not detect him, but he could detect them. Usually, a keyblade wielder is a homing beacon, allowing any thing Heartless related detect them easily, not the other way around. Quas had saw this and convinced Duncan to let Malix use his ability in a real combat situation. All other situations were only small encounters. Duncan was reluctant at first, but allowed it. Malix didn't disappoint. Four times now, he had destroyed hordes of Heartless swarms that were planning to attack small towns and four times he had succeeded.

"Malix had proved himself he is to be an important figure in this academy," Duncan declared, "but he can't do that if he continues to isolate himself. The only person that he will only talk to is you."

"Father, Malix and I have a strange connection, it is not hard to see why he only trusts me." After the Heartless attack on the academy, Malix hasn't shown any type of hospitality. Sure he may have shown some communication to Aurora, Blade, Claw, and the others, but other than them, he shuts himself in his dorm. Quas still can't help that they look very similar, to the point they could be siblings, but she was very sure she was an only child.

Duncan sighed and organized some papers. "Well it can't helped. We can't force him to do what he doesn't want. You are dismissed." Quas nodded and walked out of the office.

It can't be helped, she thought to herself. Ain't that the truth. Even when she is the one Malix talks to, he still is difficult. Over the months, she had tried to help him remember his past, to find a way to find his true identity. All efforts were useless. Other times, she tried to get him to leave his room, but he rather stayed inside to read the books he got from the library, hand delivered of course. Quas guessed that wasn't too bad, but being anti-social isn't really good. The only things they did that they both agreed on was... well talking. Honestly, it felt nice talking to him, even if he can't talk. Something in their conversation just made her day. It really felt like talking to someone that knows you very well. One bad thing though, he showed very little signs of emotion. There were times where he "looked" amused, but mostly just straight face the entire time. It was disturbing at times, but surprisingly she didn't really notice it during their conversations.

Quas approached her dorm, which was Malix's too now because they share a room, and saw that Gummi was at the door with a lot of books. The door opened and a hand came out, obviously Malix, and showed that he wanted get the books off the little girl's hands. Gummi lifted the big books as hard as she could to the hand, almost dropping them at a moment. Malix got them and nodded to Gummi, his way of thanking her. Gummi smiled and nodded back. Then she walked away, in Quas' direction, ignoring her for her other duties. Quas walked inside to see Malix putting the books down on a nearby desk. Her room was slightly changed since he moved in. Her bed was changed to be a bunk bed for Malix, her on bottom and his on top, and there was an extra set of furniture. Things to drawers, desks, lamps, etc. Malix turned to see Quas and waved.

"Hey," Quas said, waving also, "how've you been?"

He shrugged and through hand gestures said that he have been practicing his blizzard magic. He managed to do something worthwhile and wanted to show Quas.

"Really?" He had trouble doing magic and she was surprised that he wanted to demonstrate what he learned. "Go ahead, show me what you got." Malix brought his hand and concentrated. Little swirls of snowflakes appeared around his hand and swirled around it. The snowflakes slowly began to take shape into a ball, then another one, and another one. The finished image was a mini-snowman in Malix's hand.

"Wow!" Quas carefully got the snowman off of Malix's hand and examined it closely. It was not perfect, there were small bumps in the snowman, but it was still a very good job. "This is fantastic, when did you have the time to do this?"

He replied that he practiced while she was out. It gets a little boring after hours of reading so he practiced on his magic time to time.

"That's good. Let's see, you're kinda good on fire and I guess you are decent on blizzard now. All that's left is thunder and cure magic. The basic spells anyway."

Malix nodded. He found it rewarding that Quas had found his demonstration to be more than average.

"How's your combat? I mean like just your blade skills?"

Malix turned his hand left and right, signaling that it was decent. It wasn't the master material, but it wasn't beginner material either.

"Hmm." Quas looked at the clock. 4:39. She looked back at Malix and smiled. "Wanna spar for a bit?"

The request surprised him. Battling against a student who had way more training than him seemed unfair, but the chance may not come again. Plus, it would be very gratifying if he managed to beat his superior. Finally he nodded.

"Great! Let's go." Quas grabbed Malix's wrist and dragged him outside. I can see what he's really made of, she thought

. . .

The academy courtyard was quite an amazing place. Trees filled the yard the whole way, flower beds planted near the academy, even small ponds managed to be in the scene. The main attraction though was the Sparring Grounds. Positioned in the middle of the courtyard, it was the place where any student could test their skills with freedom, as long as it's safe of course. It had 15 domes and it could hold battles as large as a 10 vs 10 matches. When Quas and Malix arrived, 5 of the domes were packed, 4 were average, and 2 had a few people inside of them. They went to an empty one, court # 13.

"A whole court to ourselves," Quas said with a hint of delight, "kind of rare to be honest." The area had many leftovers battle scars from the last people using it. Blade marks filled the ground with blast marks everywhere from spells.

"Watch your step," she said as she guided Malix around and over cracks on the ground, which were literally barely 3 feet from one another.

Malix asked if the domes stayed like this forever.

Quas laughed and responded, "If that was the case, these buildings would have been destroyed already. At the end of the day, the people who look over the Sparring Grounds fix and clean it with magic so it'll be all fine the next day so the students can ruin it again."

Malix nodded to her response. That explains it.

"Yea, nice isn't it?" They stopped at a faint white circle, telling them this was the center of the dome.

"Ah, there it was. The battles smudged off the paint." She turned around and flicked her wrist. "Go to your side. Once we're in position, the fun can begin."

Once the two stood in positions, they summoned their keyblades. Malix summoned his Midnight Roar while Quas summoned her Oathkeeper keyblade. The two circled each other, waiting for the other to strike next. Both knew each other's styles quite well. Though Malix is beginner, he had a great strength in close combat while Quas is skilled in using different combination of spells to trick and eventually defeat her foes.

Malix wanted to attack first, but he knew it'll be an instant defeat if did. He needed to do something Quas wouldn't expect him to do. The an idea came into mind. It wasn't good, but it was worth trying. Breaking the silence, he used Blizzard to create a small snowstorm around Quas, obscuring her vision. She was surprised that he started the battle like that. Good job, she said to her self. Quas easily removed the snowstorm, but Malix had disappeared. Realizing where he was, she raised her keyblade above her just in time to block a fatal slash from above. They smiled for a second and pushed each other away. After landing, Malix charged right away, leaving Quas no time to react. He thought wrong, Quas anticipated his attack and jumped over him, casting a small Fire spell. It hit and his clothes started to burn. Malix quickly put it out with a Blizzard spell, giving Quas an annoyed look.

"Hey, your fault for charging in like that," she said with a smile.

Malix rolled his eyes. Quas pointed her keyblade at him and waved it up and down.

"Don't roll your eyes on me. I'm giving you advice here. You should at least look like you care."

Instead, Malix charged at Quas again. She got ready, guessing that he is going to do the same method, but somehow change it so he wouldn't get burned this time. This time he attacked with fast jabs and strikes, but Quas blocked each and every one of them. After a few seconds, their keyblades got locked together, forcing them to knock each other back. While being knocked back, Quas saw the opportunity to use another spell, this time a Fira. A bigger fireball came out of her keyblade and was headed toward Malix. He predicted this and planned to do a Fira spell of his own. He aimed his keyblade and took aim. Then, time slowed down and an eerie voice echoed in his head.

_We found you._

A sudden dark feeling came over him. Before he realized it, the spell was already cast, but it wasn't a Fira spell. It was a huge blue fireball, 3 times bigger than Quas'. Just by her expression, she did not anticipate this at all. By the time the blue Fira absorbed the smaller one, she cast an Aerora spell. The blue Fira hit the spell and a huge explosion erupted. The explosion pushed Malix all the way to the wall, making him pass out in the process.

The next thing he knew, he was surrounded by other students. He shook his head and got dome was filled with students, probably curious what caused the massive blast. The area inside helped. The floor was completely charred and blue flames danced on it. Sudden dread fell on him and looked to see where he last saw Quas. Luckily, the headmaster's assistant, Claw, was already there, healing her. She was conscious and her wounds didn't seem to be severe. Malix pushed away some students so he could check up on her, but in the first few feet of his approach, Claw summoned his keyblade to stop his advance.

"Stay away. I saw what you did." He looked at Malix if he was a threat.

"Claw! I told you already. We used spells that were too strong for us and..."

"Enough of your lies. I saw this guy use a Dark Firaga. Good thing I just happened to overlook your battle."

"Wait... you were watching..."

"That's not important, what matters is the current situation." Claw chuckled. "Well good news for you buddy. We found something that helped you what kind of person you were." Claw moved his keyblade closer to Malix's neck, the scythes only an inch away from stealing his life. He said in a cold voice, "Sadly, they're not good."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not owned by me, it is owned by Square Enix.**

* * *

><p>Mistrust<p>

Claw entered Duncan's office, greeting himself when the headmaster had noticed him. Duncan nodded and told him to give his report.

"Sir, all is well so far. Malix has been apprehended and heavily contained in the depths of the academy. We have our best wielders down there to block the exits."

"That's is good to hear." Duncan put his hands together. "And to think I was kind enough to let him stay here."

"Yes, it was indeed a close call." Claw looked to side for a second. "However..."

Duncan looked up in surprise. "However? It is not like of you to think of things like this."

"Well sir... do you think the punishment had been too much on him? I am not questioning your orders, but..." He sighed. "Malix had showed no signs of hostile movement and well, maybe his memories had been completely wiped out."

"Is this because of Quas' pleas?" Claw looked astonished. "Please my apprentice, do you not think I thought this through? Of course I saw how Malix's personality was these last few months and I had even accepted him as one of the students here. I was privileged to have such a strong youth in my school, but knowing he could be wielder of darkness completely took a toll on me. I know my actions may look crude, but believe me Claw, I have the same feelings as you do."

"I... understand. I apologize for my behavior."

"No worries, it is only human of you to act like this." Duncan grabbed a file on his desk and began to examine its information.

"Before you go Claw, I need to ask you some quick questions about that last mission you went on? I want to get some facts straight."

"Of course."

Duncan scanned the file quickly. "Where was it that you found Malix?"

"He was found in an abandoned mansion on a mission led by that little... ahem, by Master Blade." Claw didn't seem to like using those words together.

"I see, now what was the mission about?"

"To seek and capture rouge Keyblade Wielder Genzo, a master illusionist who had evaded many people who were trying to find him themselves."

"But the plan didn't go as planned correct?"

"No, we were ambushed by a giant emblem Heartless. It was a new find so our group was at a bad advantage."

"But then somehow you managed to beat it."

"Sadly, it costed Quas' safety, but in the end, we managed to beat it."

"And after that, the mansion started to shake and the room collapsed, burying the Heartless and after that you found Malix?"

"That is all correct." Silence came after.

"... I see."

"Was there something wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to make sure we know that much of Malix. You may leave now Claw."

Claw bowed to Duncan and began to leave the room. Before the last step though, he stopped and looked back. "Sir, do you still think that Malix could be somehow connected to Genzo?"

"I don't want to believe it, but it is still a possibility. Whether he may be a vassal or even the man himself. The information corresponds to it doesn't it? The debris from the ceiling could have hit Malix on the head, causing his memory loss. Granted, I doubt Genzo would make such a careless mistake as that." Duncan then chuckled. "Though why are you asking me this? It was your proposal of the idea after all."

Claw winced at that fact. "Right." He turned and left the room.

. . .

In her room, Quas sat on her bed, holding her pillow tightly. She was thinking heavily of the events that happened, wondering if she could of done anything to prevent this from happening. She was also thinking about Malix. Could she see him the same way again, knowing he could be a dark wielder? He matched the description of a stereotypical one; quiet, anti-social, no sense of emotion. However she knew better. Malix may show these traits, but he's more than that. He showed her many things that Quas considered nice and caring. For starters, their bond was proof of that. They interacted with each other that seemed like they knew each other very well, as if they were really related. Malix really cared for what she had to say and vice-versa. Though no one believed her because their conversations only happened in private, she kept that belief in her heart. Now, that belief is having its doubts. A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.

"Who is it?"

"Someone!"

"Which is?"

"Open the door and find out!"

Quas put the pillow down and headed for the door. This had better to be important she thought to herself. She opened it and saw Blade.

"Uhh, hi there."

"Sup." He said as he literally just walked inside. Quas didn't know what to say at first, but fortunately Blade talked first.

"You must be wondering why I came here."

"That's... kind of a given. You did just walk in my room without my permission."

"Well, having a higher status makes me the boss of you and being the boss means..." He jumped on Quas' bed, leaning back comfortably and messing up the pillow and sheets. "I can do whatever I what." Quas kept her annoyance to herself. It felt strange to have a Keyblade Master to act so immature. How did he ever pass the Mark of Mastery?

"So what do you need Blade?"

"I came here..." he stopped. Suddenly, he jumped up, did a flip, and landed in front of Quas. "To interrogate you!"

"Did you really need to..."

"YES!"

Quas facepalmed. "Interrogate me about what?"

Blade looked surprised. "You mean you don't know? Pff, and I thought you were smart, being Duncan's daughter and all."

He's really pushing it. "You don't mean... Malix?"

Blade rolled his eyes. "No, the other guy who fired the Dark Firaga, OF COURSE HIM." Blade suddenly talked quietly to himself. "Fired the firaga. that sounds weird..."

"Look, whatever you may ask, just get this in your head. Malix is not a bad person, whatever his past may be. I admit because of what happened recently, all of us have doubts on him now, some may even be scared if him, but I will still defend him and stick up to him until the bitter end."

"Jeez, you really want to protect him. You only met him for like a couple months for sakes. Like him or something?"

Quas gave him a stern look. "Blade, please. We're mirror images. We can both assume I'm not into that stuff."

Blade put his hand to his chin and nodded. "Yeah, I assume so." He chuckled. "Plus, it would probably make him jealous."

"Jealous?" Quas said. She was confused, but curious at the same time. "Who?"

"Well...," Blade started to say, but he laughed instead, "you'll find out later."

Quas shifted uncomfortably. She had become more curious now. "Could tell me a hint or...?"

"Oh my gosh, I said too much!" Blade covered his face. "He's going to kill me if he finds out! Then again, I could kill him first, but if he manages to...ARRRR." The young master ran out, still muttering about killing someone, leaving a rather puzzled Quas.

. . .

Deep below the academy lay the detention chambers. Though normally not used, they were made to keep all possibly dangerous individuals that meant harm to the academy. Because only a couple were ever kept in there, there were many rumors about the D.C. Some were about the ghosts who haunted them, though no one actually died in them. Another was that if you get locked up in cell #13, you disappear without a trace. The more famous one though, is that it holds a Heartless. Unlike the other rumors, this sounded plausible. The chambers were big and dark enough to hold and hide a Heartless or so they said.

Malix heard about these rumors from conversations with Quas. He never thought they were true, but being down himself, he could tell how such rumors can be made. The area can be compared to the bottom of a ravine. The two walls were lined with cells, complete with only a bed, a desk, and a toilet. The space between the walls was roughly about 4 and so meters. The only light that was here were the lanterns that hung next to every other cell. For some reason, looking at the lanterns made Malix's head hurt a little so he tried to avoid looking at them.

For the past hours, Malix had been staring at the ceiling while laying in his bed, trying to analyze what had happened recently. For starters, he was not sure if this new information about him was good or not. A Keyblade Wielder of Darkness, thought to be gone since the last known one, Master Xehanort, had went missing. They were heavily feared for their use of the dark arts and their philosophy that the darkness was supreme. He had read a novel once about Light and Darkness and how both sides needed to in balance so the world can be in balance. If that was true, the balance was currently unbalanced then. There is too much Light in the world and if there was any sign of the darkness, the Light brings it down. Was having too much Light a bad thing? Was destroying the Darkness a good idea? Are the Heartless themselves trying to bring Darkness to the worlds in order to make such an equilibrium? What would Quas say if he told her these these things? Quas... The only person that trusted him and befriended him since the very beginning. It felt strange when he was with her. What kind of person was I before my memory loss, he asked himself. Did I never knew kindness? Is that why it feels so unusual? Whatever the case, Malix was glad that he got to experience this feeling.

A heavy knock sounded on his door and with it came a voice. "There's someone here to see you."

It opened with a heavy creak and Quas stood in view. Malix was surprised she was able to gain permission to see him.

Quas entered the room and looked back at the guard. "It's alright. He won't harm me."

"But my lady, you're the headmaster's daughter, I can't simply just..."

"It's fine," she said in a stern tone, "if something happens, you'll hear it."

The guard didn't say anything for a moment, but eventually obeyed and closed the door.

"That's better," she turned her attention to Malix, "I'm sorry for all of this. You must be mad at me."

Malix replied that he could never get mad at her.

"Aww, thank you," Quas said, smiling.

The strange feeling came to Malix again. It felt so pleasing and warm whenever he near her. Every time he saw that smiling face, he... Malix paused. Something was off about her.

Quas noticed his stare. "Is something wrong?"

No, nothing is wrong.

"If you say so." She sighed and looked down. "I tried asking my father to let you out. I tried terms, persuasion, even begging, but that was a last resort. I'm sorry Malix. You're going to be here for awhile."

I see. That's quite unfortunate. Did you ask the others what their opinion was on my detainment?

"Yeah, everybody was shocked about the news."

I wonder how Mimi would feel. She always visited me and I think she began to even trust me.

"Poor thing. I haven't ask her yet, but I think she knows already."

I hope she'll be ok after this, Malix said in his thoughts.

"I hope so t..." Quas paused and her expression turned dire. "How did you find out?"

Malix put his hands behind his back and put on a straight posture. Well first, he said in his thoughts, you got Quas' eyes wrong. Her left should be blue and her right red.

Quas changed her eye color, correcting her appearance. "That better?"

It's appreciated. Now second, there's no Mimi in this school. Her actual name is Gummi.

Quas smiled grimly. "Is it? I guess I should have studied more."

Now if you please, get out of that pathetic disguise of my friend.

"Quas" bowed to Malix with her hands spreaded. "As you wish."

A dark aura enveloped Quas' imposter. Her image began to blur and slowly took on a new one. The image was shadowy because of the aura, but a few features showed. A black jacket with red lines running across his arms to his shoulder, some type of necklace of a strange shape, but the most notable feature is his mask. Though Malix had seen it before, he had time to examine its design. It had an opening for the mouth and it was stylized with two white see through glass. It seemed to be a one-way glass because Malix couldn't see his eyes. He couldn't see any more because the figure was wearing a hoodie.

You're the person who appeared in my dream.

"So you remembered." It was months after Malix had heard his voice and now he had the time to analyze it. He sounded young surprisingly. Malix guessed he was around his late teens. "Probably the only thing you remembered about me."

What do you mean?

"Oh don't worry, you'll figure it out soon enough."

What is that supposed to mean? Do you have information about my past? Of who I really am? Tell me!

"No need to be yelling. Sheesh, I liked you better back then. Much more obedient."

Back then?

"Yes, Malix. That's your name now right? You and I have some history together. I rather just take you now; however, my plans tell me otherwise. I came to get you out of your situation."

Why would you want to help me?

"You turn down a helping hand?"

Not if you answer my question. What do you know know of my past?

"Such curiosity." The figure sighed. "I guess its an improvement. Look, you want to learn more about yourself? Well, you need to do some tasks for me. I have none yet, but if you really do want to find out, you will accept my terms."

Malix gave it a deep thought. He really does want to find out, but he did not know what type of things this man will want him to do.

"Hard time deciding?" He chuckled. "How about this then?" He held out his hand in front of him. In the palm of his hand, a dark sphere formed. It swirled for a few seconds when the darkness faded and a book was floating above his hands.

"Take this." The book glided toward Malix which he grabbed. It was a strange book that had 11 differently shaped slots on the front cover. It had no title and he couldn't open it. What is it, he asked.

"Why it's the very thing that will help you regain your memories. Every time you succeed at doing a task I assign, you will get a marker. Each marker will open a certain part of the book where upon its pages will reveal something about your past." The figure dug into his pocket and brought something out. "I'll be generous with you with the first slot." He tossed the object at Malix. Catching it, the object was a rectangular object which strange markings on all sides. He soon realized that it was a marker and it looked like it could fit in the first slot.

"I'll come back tomorrow. If you still don't make up your mind, well..." Malix suddenly felt cold. He then looked around the room to see over a dozen yellow eyes on the walls, all looking at him. "I'll have use other means. Have a nice day." He then turned back into Quas and the eyes disappeared. As if to mock him, he smiled at him with Quas' smile and then told the guard outside to open the door. "Quas" left the room and waved Malix good-bye. The door closed, leaving Malix with thoughts clustered with uncertainty.


End file.
